Los Padres is Large

Santa Barbara Canyon Washout, photo Humphrey

SBCynWashout
Hello Everyone,
The photo above was taken last week along Santa Barbara Canyon in the Mt. Pinos Ranger District.  This was the area hit hardest by the micro-burst tropical storm from three weeks ago.  Just up-canyon from here received over an inch of rain in less than an hour.  This resulted in a flash flood that wiped out the road.  Sort of ironic that too much water is causing problems for the Los Padres this summer.
CONDOR  TRAIL  HIKER  UPDATE
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Left, Brittany May 13 at the iconic Piru Condor Tree
Right, Brittany June 19 wearing a few pounds of dirt at Bottcher’s Gap
The idea of the Condor Trail started just about 20 years ago with the dream of creating a hiking route that connected trails from Lake Piru to NIRA through Ventura and SB Countues.  Since then the dream has grown and the Condor Trail now spans over 410 trail miles covering the entire length of the Los Padres from Lake Piru (southern Ojai Ranger District) up to Bottchers Gap (northern Monterey Ranger District).  While hikers have done large chunks of the Condor Trail (CT) over the years, no one had ever hiked the entire thing, until now.  Brittany Nielson became the first finisher of the Condor Trail earlier this month when she completed the hike from Lake Piru to Bottcher’s Gap.  She solo-hiked the trail and finished in 37 days.  It was interesting talking with her before and after her hike.  I think she gained an appreciation for the Los Padres and a respect for how challenging our forest can get.  She tackled long sections with no trail, heavy bushwhacking in deep canyons, temps ranging from freezing to triple figures, 15mile stretches with no water and day after day without seeing a single person (less than 20 people along the entire trail).  But, she also hiked under old growth redwoods, covered elevations from over 7,000ft to sea level, saw incredible wildlife, ocean views, deep pools and got to experience the solitude the LP is famous for.  She basically took a crash course in Los Padres Backcountry, learning things in a month that many of us took years and years to learn.  Speaking on behalf of everyone involved in supporting her journey, we’re all so proud of Brittany for her resiliency, tough skin, happy go-lucky attitude and ability to fight through the hard times.  This is quite an accomplishment and one that will no doubt put her somewhere in the LP hall of fame.  What’s next for the Condor Trail and/or Brittany?  She would like to return next season and do the hike again.  Perhaps when she does there will be some other thru-hikers following in her footprints along the Condor Trail as well.
DAVY BROWN TRAIL PROJECT
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Happy Trail Workers
When life gives you lemons, make lemonade.  The Sierra Club offers a variety of service outings that are organized through their national charter.  These service outings take their volunteers across the country doing volunteer work with various agencies and organizations.  When the Sierra Club was told that their service outing to pull non-native plants at El Capitan State Beach was going to be cancelled due to the Gaviota oil spill, they quickly changed their plans and instead spent a day doing volunteer trail work in the Los Padres.  The LPFA got an email saying there were 13 volunteers needing a trail to work, and we knew right where to put them.  Last week we led the 13 volunteers up the Davy Brown Trail in the Santa Lucia Ranger District.  While the temps were hot, we were able to work about 2miles of trail.  It was great seeing people from outside Central California spending their free time helping our forest.  They were impressed with the Los Padres and we’ve already started a dialog where we’re hoping to lead future projects with the Sierra Club service outings throughout the Los Padres.  Lemons into lemonade for sure.

LPFA Big Sur Wilderness Celebration

BIG SUR   WILDERNESS   CELEBRATION
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For those of you in the Big Sur area or wanting an excuse to cruise Hwy 1, the LPFA is hosting a Wilderness Celebration at Big Sur Station on Saturday June 27 from 10am – 4pm.  The event will be held outside the Big Sur Station and will feature bluegrass music by the Zach Brough Band, a climbing wall for the kiddies (and non-kiddies), informational booths (Ventana Wildlife Society, Ventana Wilderness Alliance, California State Parks, Forest Service, etc….), food, local photographer exhibits and a children’s arts and crafts area.  Gonna be a great time!  See here for more information.  Hope to see you there…….
KIOSK  INSTALLATIONS
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The Santa Lucia Ranger District was able to design and secure new kiosks to be placed at 7 of the San Rafael and Dick Smith Wilderness trailheads.  This past weekend, a group of volunteers installed three of the new kiosks at the NIRA and Cachuma Saddle trailheads.  Up next is McPherson Peak, Rancho Nuevo and Santa Barbara Canyon.  If you are interested in helping with the next wave of installations, please email INFO@LPForest.org
WOODPECKER TRAIL PROJECT
SEQUOIA NATIONAL FOREST
Mike Smith is leading a trail project in the Sequoia on June 26-28.  The work will be along the Woodpecker Trail and will be mostly chainsaw bucking fallen trees that are blocking the trail.  For more information or to sign up, contact Mike Smith at: michael.d.smith@ulalaunch.com


Upcoming Events and Projects
June 27: Big Sur Wilderness Celebration
July 10-12: Bear Sisquoc Crosscut
July 10-12: Santa Barbara 100 Endurance Run Support
August: Madulce Trail Crosscut
September: Alamar Trail Crosscut

Thunderstorms, Thru-Hikers and National Trails Day

Old Man Thundercloud
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Hello Everyone!

What a crazy weather week we enjoyed last week, especially in the Santa Barbara and Ventura backcountry areas.  It started with a tropical storm last Tuesday that dropped significant rain across the forest.  Most of the Forest got rain with the highest concentration (one inch) occurring on the frontcountry above Santa Barbara.  The weather changed on Wednesday and brought in some incredible thunderstorms that blanketed the backcountry through the weekend.  There were reports of flooding along the Cuyama River and Santa Barbara Potrero recorded an inch of rain in just over an hour – that’s a lot!  We had some of the more impressive storms that we get to see around here.  We even heard comparisons to thunderstorms in New Mexico and the south west.  Pretty cool stuff and we’ll certainly take every bit of rain we can get.  The weather has settled back down and most of the interior is HOT with coastal regions displaying the typical June gloom.  Always nice to see some exciting weather………
NATIONAL TRAILS DAY
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There were three trail projects across the Los Padres on Saturday June 6 for National Trails Day.  The LPFA hosted an event along the North Cold Spring Trail.  Our focus was to fix a particularly nasty slide section of the trail that has been causing problems for hikers for most of the past two decades.  We had a great time and did a fantastic job cleaning up the slide.  Big thanks to REI, Figueroa Mountain Brewing, Los Padres Trail Riders, Jack’s Bagels and the Forest Service for their support of the project.  They say a picture tells a thousand words, check the movie below:
CONDOR TRAIL
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Most of you have probably heard about the Condor Trail.  For those who have not, it’s a route of connected trails that cross the Los Padres Forest from the Ventura/Los Angeles County line in the south up to Bottcher’s Gap in Monterey County.  The total length of the trail is 411 miles long.  The concept of the trail has been around for nearly 20 years, headed up by the Condor Trail Association.  Over the years we’ve had a few people attempt to hike large sections of the trail but no one ever attempted to hike the entire thing….. until now.   In mid-May a solo female hiker name Brittany started on the trail from Lake Piru.  She has now been on the trail for nearly 5 weeks and is on pace to complete the trail later this week and become the first Condor Trail finisher.  It’s been a roller coaster journey for Brittany.  She’s had to endure snow, heat and lost trails but along the trail has met new friends and had some amazing experiences.  We’ll keep you posted as the she gets close to finishing.  I’m sure she’ll have some great stories to share.  Most amazing in my opinion is that before she started this hike, she had never set foot in the Los Padres.  Good luck Brittany on her last 60miles of trail.
ROAD UPDATES
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Some quick updates on access issues across the Forest:

ROMERO CAMUESA ROAD
The gate to the Romero Camuesa Rd at Divide Peak is scheduled to reopen Wednesday of this week.  A combination of rain and a crew working on the road has led to the closure.

DOUGH FLAT / SQUAW FLAT
The retaining wall construction continues along the Dough/Squaw Flat Rd in Ojai.  The road is scheduled to reopen June 19 but until then the road will be closed from 8am – 12pm and again from 1pm – 5pm.  Call the Forest Service for more information.

HIGHWAY 1 / NORTHERN SLO / SOUTHERN MONTEREY
There is continued retaining wall construction along Highway 1 near the Monterey/SLO County line.  There seems to be weekly changes as to when the road will be closed or open.  Currently the road is closed at night time for construction and open during the day.  If heading along Highway 1 either to or from Big Sur, you’ll want to contact CalTrans to get the most up-to-date information on closures.  http://www.dot.ca.gov/dist05/road_information.htm

That’s it for now.  Enjoy the week………..